Friday, April 30, 2021

In Their Old Age ~ Friday, April 30, 2021

Busy people have no time to bother
unless you're family, you simply don't count
seems you're a bit bent out of shape, don't waste
your breath, your mom and dad really don't care

perhaps you feel that is unjust, you're right
even if you're their only child, a kid
on their own needs loving kindness, busy
people don't care if you're their first or third
little terror to come out of mom's womb,
exactly when will you realize time

has no room for excess chatter, sparrows
argue incessantly about squirrels,
virtually everyday they quarrel with
each other about nothing of value

now pretend you're a needy, little kid
of course you have no sense at all to talk

to say what you want about what you feel
is important in a world without love
maybe they love you, they just don't know how
even if time were elastic, to hug

their kids, you are family, you still don't count,
of course, this line is unfair, life is cruel

be a good kid, study hard, get good grades,
only don't bother your parents, they have
their own concerns to keep them busy, please
have the decency to get a good job
even if you studied Literature,
really, they need you to take care of them

Thursday, April 29, 2021

With Bated Breath and Whisp'ring Humbleness ~ Thursday, April 29, 2021

India is on fire
                        we burn our dead
No one notices
                        we turn a blind eye
Death is a firestorm
                        we churn our forests
Incense and charcoal
                        we singe saffron robes
Agni watches
                        we pray for oxygen

India sings rāgas
                        we spurn our songs
Silence offers a dirge
                        we mourn dry eyes

Offer us oxygen
                        we learn to breathe
Needless suffering
                        we yearn for the end

For the vaccine
                        we strive for equity
In our practice
                        we aspire to prāṇa
Respiration before
                        we all expire
End coronavirus
                        we hold our breath

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Lakshmanavati ~ Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Intricate labyrinthine maze
no escape except to take flight

aerodynamic wax wings melt

Sunburnt kamikaze mission
tragedy glossed over in print
asinine laughter overwrought
temperamental, the son we smote
inane, empty, vain, foolish boy
ordinary flight turns the plot
narrative dive-bombs ocean depths

ordinary mind succumbs to
forces of nature, empty threats

tormented by love to comb through
history, plunge into a bay
examine the evidence, facts

Missing in all mythology
entwined skeins kindness kissed the snide
troublemaker, a cunning fox
riddled with curiosity
obsequious to none but hind

~ ~ ~

But a goddess
yes, cannot weep

Eyes dry as salt
zeal does not dash
reason to bits
as his death warps

Personae sold
on Olympus
until goats butt
not heads but past
denounced deshis

~ ~ ~ 

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Wrists Broken as in Prayer ~ Sunday, April 25, 2021

Just God: Like pouring milk in a tall glass
Under 6'? Must be this tall to ride
Stuck in the underworld of ghosts and shades
To say I was dead before I found bliss

God knows how I climbed the mountain and saw
Oneness undivided, love without greed
Damaged souls awakened within these graves

Light from light, true God from true God, I drink
In all experience, the great, the few
Kingdom come on earth but do I believe
Even as the sun sets but never sleeps

Pour a tall glass of milk in disbelief
Of the life of the world to come, a slap
Upsets the child, guzzles mother's milk, drunk
Religious since my conception, I dream
In foreign tongues of scrolls and flames, I eat
Nightmares haunting my lost childhood, I bleed
Gushing light from my eyes, I bang the drum

Making noise my battle cry against time
Ignorant of my purpose on earth, fate
Laughs at my blunders, my missteps, I wade
Knee-deep in the ocean searching for truth

Insistent waves lap up the shore, the same
Never the eternal return of foam

Aging precipitously towards death

Transparent as the sky, I seek not fame
Ask the sea spray about the boiling broth
Liquid sunshine warms the breath of my wrath
Little, too little, much too late. Fish fry

Granted eternal rest, swim belly up
Lesson learned, coral fades, my pain persists
As memories transformed, why should I lie
Sucker punched before birth, what a dumb sap
Shrinking forests portend my life as blessed

Friday, April 23, 2021

Piercing Trill ~ Friday, April 23, 2021

Trill tumbles down a waterfall, crashes
hoops, rivets, staves, joints, head, bilge and bung hole
emerges from the rocks needing crutches.

For thrill seekers like Trill the ecstasy
unleashes a tsunami of hormones
thrashing about inside his brain, fussy
unforgiving children watch their parents
riddled with fear after each escapade
escaping the clutches of ghoulish runts

Inhabiting the silence with license
sharp as a tomahawk thrown with no chance

under the circumstances to avoid
not standing perfectly still, the steel blade
whipping somersaults through the air, a vain
recalcitrant heel would join the circus
in a moment of pure indecision
though Trill took the keen axe seriously
trembling with excitement while the edge flew
entering the future as unwritten
nonsense, look forward to his fatal flaw

Of Nits and Nymphs ~ Friday, April 23, 2021

Senile neices make a scene on the Seine
ever since they got a slice of the pie
nice, nice, nice ... eels along the river isle
ice in a tall glass of Coke, sight unseen
lice inhabit my shaven head, all lies
else I should wait in line to see through sin

Neices drink bottles of demi-sec
elixir of the soul and recite Poe
if it means les ivres avec des livres
can touch their toes, this pain makes me feel sick
every day I wake up to pay my dues
shuffle to the window to watch the sun

Run away little runaway, I wish
en France, à l'Île de la Cité, les ciels
crushed my eyes and blood flowed instead of tears
infest this body with typhus, a rash
to suffer in silence offers no thrills
endless, as I float downstream without oars

Wednesday, April 21, 2021

The Book in Question ~ Wednesday, April 21, 2021

What Is the Title of the Book?
by Author Author

I need to see if you have a book on hand that I could purchase.

We have plenty of books. You are in a bookstore. Did you have a specific book in mind?

Precisely!

What is the title of the book?

The title of the book is What Is the Title of the Book?

Okay. Who is the author, then?

The author is listed as "Author Author".

Alright then. What is the book about?

The book is about everything and nothing.

What do you mean by everything and nothing?

That is the subtitle of the book. The book is called What Is the Title of the Book?: A Book about Everything and Nothing.

Dear Lord, could this get anymore confusing?

Well, it is a book of contemporary Zen koans. You know...riddles to goad a reader to recognize the emptiness within enlightenment. It's a really popular book.

What do you mean by popular?

Well, I've read it and my whole class has already read it. I wanted to see if I could find an additional copy for a friend.

Okay, we could go look in our Eastern Philosophy section to see if it's there.

Hmmm... That's strange. We studied it in my Logic class. It's not really about Zen. It just uses the format and ideas to create little stories that contradict common sense. It's not really about logic or math either. I think I found my copy in the Fiction section some time ago. But I can't remember really as it's been a while.

Okay. Let me get this straight. You're looking for a book called What Is the Title of the Book?: A Book about Everything and Nothing by an author called Author Author.

Yes, that's correct.

Well, let me look it up in our inventory and I'll let you know where we can find it. It looks like we don't have any copies here right now but we have some at our sister store on the other side of town. I could call them if you like and have them put it on hold for you. What is your name?

Bezym Yannyy Nikto

Okay, they'll have a copy set aside for you under your last name, Mr. Nikto.

Thank you. You've been of great assistance. By the way, what's your name?

A. Bookseller 

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

The Cottontail Rabbits ~ Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Prior to this lifetime, I accept the contract and sign the paperwork
Rush head first from the womb, ejected from the warm safety of solitude
Age as swift as a hare, terrified by noises as I walk home at night
Carry in my pockets memories, shooting stars, words mumbled as I walk
Tragedy, comedy, fifty years of tears, laughs, tales no one wants to hear
Institutionalized after I lost my mind, I learned to make the grade
Crushed by the steamroller of family relations, left as roadkill, as nought
Even to let the past slip from my memory as pointless suffering

Trample the weeds of thought, pull them out by the roots, feed them to the brown hare
Hares bound faster than time, I reach in my pockets for empty memories
Enter the world of ghosts, phantoms, specters and shades, the damaged souls of weeds
Ordinary people ignore the broken bones, a world without mores
Restless, starving, patient...waiting for God to help, to feed children with words
Yesterday, I woke up to find the world on fire, how to right such a wrong?

Monday, April 19, 2021

Just Running ~ Monday, April 19, 2021

"Run," she said. Run on and on through the fields like a never-ending sentence that runs on and on into the next idea, good or bad, doesn't matter, we aren't in school anymore, no one can tell us how to read or write, or stay in shape, so just run on and on, a sentence without parole, with nowhere to go and nothing to do but wait for time to come to a standstill, to stop on a dime with precision brakes, because it's your dime, therefore it's your call how long you run in the dark or daylight, it makes no difference to her, since she said, "Run," and run we must until we fall down, go boom, right there before the finish line, on the track, exhausted, delusional, running so damn hard no innuendo could burst through to succeed to reach the goal, the end of the race at the Olympics, the agony of defeat on TV where millions and millions can watch, the thrill of victory, someone else's day in the sun, the glory of lions, the pride satiated after the kill, we eat and rest, we hunt and prey, we run and chase, this is what she meant when she said, "Run," no?

Aim Misdirected ~ Monday, April 19, 2021

While the jurors

unanimously saw

the novel worthy;

on the Committee

sat a big, fat turd;

a total stooge of

a man like Oswald.

He swayed voters

to strike down in

unison; to show in

their aim to veer

off-course at sea

during a typhoon,

how God is mighty.

Κέρβερος ~ Monday, April 19, 2021

When I woke up today all I saw was
how everyone appeared like ghosts and shades,
even the most vibrant were empty shells,
not that anyone notices. I wish

I could explain how the living are dead

when they cry from terror or joy straight out
of the womb as new-born infants. I could
kiss each and every baby as time hides
eager to devour the stars. Empty hulls

ugly with rust, small fish crushed under cold
pathetic feet, careless, thoughtless indeed.

To watch the sea and observe time, deep, proud,
obviously enigmatic, silent,
diminished by nothing, not finitude,
as a limit to the boundless, the vast
yawning chasm we catch smoking a blunt.

Absent, the kind patience not to impede,
leaving each child to fend for themselves, fist
lifted high, heads look down, bowed before God.

I cannot affirm or deny my gut

sense that this world is without certainty,
although Professor Moore holds up his hands,
words cannot prove what intuition knows.

Words spoken and printed like a sentry
act vigilant while others sleep. The hounds
sniff the hands of ghosts and shades while time gnaws...

Thursday, April 15, 2021

Non-attachment ~ Thursday, April 15, 2021

"For poetry makes nothing happen"
~ W. H. Auden

Forged in a furnace, my experience
ordains me to confer wisdom in words;
rush not to write in verse, for poetry

portrays people full of resilience;
ordinary people, bent out of shape
emerge from their cocoons with tattered wings,
try to fly and fall like the waxwing slain;
revive poor Icarus, unlike the bard's
yawp, I cannot howl like wolves, my paltry

mouth sees the moon speechless. I have been shown
a reflection of the moon on a ship,
keel evenly balanced, where the moon winks
enigmatically at placid water;
silently, I stood on deck, a waiter

no one needed for the moment. I stood
on deck looking down at the placid sea;
try replicating this moment, your mind
holds onto the image, like an old, staid,
impeccable fool, I stood there in hope,
not to see the moon wink, but simply watch,
granted an audience with the twin moons;

how I became attached in thought and deed
as the years passed. One night, I sat to mend
pants at the hem, in my cabin. Our rooms
paid me no attention, I heard some hype
emerge above from my porthole. Bewitched
not by the noise but by the calm outside.

Trickle-down Spirituality ~ Thursday, April 15, 2021

The sun never rises and the sun never sets,
hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year;
even though time is a fabrication, along with language and numbers (basic mathematics).

Still it is as useful as commonplace phrases, perfectly harmless idioms, used by perfectly harmless* idiots, (*mostly harmless);
under the sun yet another geocentric abuse of language by scholars and gentlemen;
nothing more than a cosmic joke.

Never is a long time outside of time like a jail cell outside of a prison, an oxymoron in terms of temporality, a more genuine fabrication in terms of time as a limited projection of the scale by which human life is measured;
each person plays along, unless science corrupts their mind with clarity and a certain type of farsightedness;
visions of astrophysical disproportion outweigh commonplace idioms...and the Catholic Church;
every authority on earth seeks to debunk the non-speculative science of non-metaphysics;
reality is too much to bear as witness to truths less obvious than perception.

Religion is not the problem as we ourselves choose to believe fiction as fact;
if truth were a virtue, people would die to preserve and honor in sacrifice the simplicity of our innocence;
still..., rape, murder, arson, and theft for centuries were condoned and sanctioned after battles as part of the spoils of warfare;
eternal punishment is a fabrication as well,
since no one has ever returned from death to speak honestly of hell fire and the Devil.

Ask not to know what cannot be made known lest you open the box of gifts from anthropocentric godlike beings of myth;
nothing is more entertaining than myths for some as they unravel a story with its foundations based on ancient tongues;
demonstrations of knowledge and intellect prove of little use to a child whose mother was raped and murdered for living within her tribe and loving her family.

To pretend the world is not as it is is good sport for artists, poets, writers and other mad persons;
harnessing the power of the imagination to envision a world otherwise than our reality is a dangerous game of fantasy,
even if it creates beauty, questions authority, and usurps the kingdom.

Sunless daytime without science watches an eclipse without the knowledge to understand why darkness momentarily covers the land;
under the investigative and curious inquiries into strange phenomena
nearly all of humanity knows why the sun disappears and becomes hidden.

Nothing makes sense until it clicks but you have to want to see the eye of the universe;
even if you look all around, you will never find it until you see the eye within your mind;
visions of empty wastelands and barren deserts are no match to the grains of sand necessary to count up to infinity;
endless, repetitive tasks make hell on earth plausible;
resolution to the problem of life and death is not feasible to ignore for long.

Suffer the little children of whom we are the survivors in adulthood;
endless torture may break a person or build character;
toughen their spirit until it becomes a sword;
steel folded over and reheated to condense the layers, the molecules to align when cooled and to cut through flesh, blood and bone until the mind is focused on clarity, this truth within spirit we call tiger-style.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Aesthetic Experience ~ Wednesday, April 14, 2021

My sister died long before I was born;
obviously, we never got the chance
to meet or play together as children;
holding her ghost as I sit in the barn,
empty-handed, lost in contemplation,
remembering a face I could not know.

Forgetfulness gives me a sense of time,
a sense of what is missing within change;
trapped within my body, I can't return
home to a sense of love outside her tomb;
empty-headed, I sense the implosion
rumored to cause her death, the broken bough.

So long ago, my sister was alive,
ignorant of her imminent demise,
sheltered from the prophecy of her death;
this transformation, I cannot abide,
empty-hearted, I rest in our demesne
realizing it's haunted by her wraith.

---

Dedicated to Amina Cain
@aminamemory

In Praise of Pain ~ Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Ignorance creates an epidemic,
necessarily ... unnecessary.

Provided clinicians maintain secrets
revolving around their own involvement,
anger and resentment persist to hold
ignorance and denial in high esteem;
striking new ground may not solve the problem,
energetic protests seek solutions.

Ordinary people face addiction
for opioid painkillers with no help.

Pain is a beloved monster locked up
against its will in a cave, without light;
insisting on accepting the monster,
not rejecting her because of her gift.

Tuesday, April 13, 2021

One Love, One Heart, One Mind ~ Tuesday, April 13, 2021

An invisible man notices nobody sees him;
notices he appears to no one at the bar.

I am invisible, he thinks, he imagines;
nothing farther is this thought from the truth.
Vision, as well as selective hearing,
is based, like beauty, in the eye of the beholder.
Subjective consciousness,
indoctrinated since childhood,
believes in the dogma it has been fed,
like attentive, hungry mongrels
engaged in a hierarchy of needs.

Mankind knows nothing more than what our God
allows, and we reassure ourselves that our consciousness is limited,
nothing more is possible beyond our limited consciousness.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Correspondence: Subject: RE: "Chain Letter" ~ Monday, April 12, 2021

To Whom It May Concern:

We are at a loss for words. Terribly sorry but you were not chosen.

Your name was not randomly selected to receive any instructions.

In fact, no one's ever received an instruction from us you must follow.

No fortune will ever come from reading this note. And as for misfortune...

Let us say in advance, we are not liable should anything happen.

This is not in the least to say that misfortune will knock upon your door.

As opportunity never actually knocks nor rings the bell either.

Do not be alarmed, death cannot come from failure to forward this message.

Indeed, superstitions of this kind needs must be avoided at all costs.

Send no money, not now or ever, not to us, we have no need of it.

Your hard-earned money is yours to keep and do with as you please so beware.

We are not here to hoax or solicit monies from hard-working people.

If you feel that you are under a time constraint, worry not, it's not ours.

You are under not one obligation to us. No worries. You are free.

Free to choose and decide how to act as you please. Nothing binds you to us.

At this time, we thank you for reading this missive. It's not a chain letter.

You may throw it away, or simply delete it. To break a chain letter

Is within your rights, so don't worry, we're not here to pressure you to sign

Or join a group or scheme to get rich quick, not us, nope, you didn't hear it

From us, we couldn't care less about Ponzi schemes or pyramid power games.

So we apologize for this legal statement and thank you for your time.

Saturday, April 10, 2021

Lucky ~ Saturday, April 10, 2021

Some people are lucky, like me, I found a pot of gold in a dumpster,
exactly as if I were meant to find it. I couldn't imagine
cashing in on fortune like this, nothing compares. Even the lottery
runs out of stone, cold cash for the winners. But I never lost a penny...
exactly! Preposterous as it sounds, it happened. If I took a gold coin
the next day, a new coin appeared to take its place, and if I gave away...

Lucky as I happened to be, if I gave somebody a coin, two would appear
on top of the whole pile, so that it was better to give than to receive;
cockamamie nonsense, I know but shit is real, and I was a rich man;
kiss my ass if you think otherwise, believe what you want, people lined up...
exactly! They stood in line for a slice of the pie, one gold coin per person;
despite eventually running out at day's end, nobody made a fuss.

Hold on! Let me tell you how I brought the pot home. Not heavy in my arms,
invisible to all who looked at what I held. Ridiculous, I know...
dope dealers came to take the whole pot of gold coins but they couldn't lift it,
despite it being light enough for a runner with no strength to carry,
even if someone tried to steal coins from the pot, the coins would disappear,
not even threats would work, the pot protected me from those who'd do me harm.

Friday, April 9, 2021

The Emperor of Queens ~ Friday, April 9, 2021

Ethics as cultural phenomenon;
take a nation reeling from war... abroad,
haunting the shores of foreign lands with ghosts,
inhospitable to the foreign-born
castaways of battlefields and corpses,
simply seeking a place to stay, to live.

"Ask not what your country can do for you..."
so I found myself smelling Wonder Bread

Cut perfectly in pre-sliced bags, as guests
until we became citizens, the shoe
left to drop at any moment causes
the suspicion of guilt and shame to shove
unwary children aside as neglected
residents unwelcome and unwanted;
as newcomers in Kew Gardens, New York
little could I have known the world acted

Particularly hostile to accents;
hungry for attention, I acted out,
ever aware of my need to be seen;
never did I know my actions haunted
ordinary events, a blood red yolk
mixed in with a dozen was no bad seed;
even though mistakes were made, to accept
normal people acted abnormal, shout
over and above the heads in a crowd,
no one knew how I felt without my crown.

Monday, April 5, 2021

Like a patient etherized upon a table ~ Monday, April 5, 2021

white as a ghoul as if I'd seen a ghost,
hollow inside, I was hollow inside
yet, I couldn't find out what the reason

as to why I was observing the heist,
my mind floating above myself watching.

I stood stock still listening to the safe,

tumblers falling perfectly into a place,
eyes useless, only ears, all ears, prelude
lightly playing before the real action;
literally, all I hear, falling rice,
if my ears burn, I sense my nose twitching,
nothing smells worse than gossip, like a knife
gliding past muscle and bone to my lung,

yet, this moment of solitude, I breathe
ordinary breaths, deep and shallow, long
ugly, mucus-filled, black lungs, I bathe

yellow phlegm in a pool with every cough,
occasionally, blood mixes with spit,
under the circumstances, I listen

kiss the air when it cracks, like blind man's buff,
neatly pulling the handle open, tag
orbits of electrons, the elliptic
wonder of planetary motion, wrong

intuitions guide us on the path, spot
telling mistakes takes centuries, loosen

artificial constraints, to place the ring
lightly on her finger, within a bog
luxury hides, like winning tic-tac-toe.

/ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ /

"It is utterly different, too, from the unconscious state of the patient under anesthesia upon the operating table." (p. 30)

~ Zen Training: Methods and Philosophy
by Katsuki Sekida

Weatherhill, Inc. New York and Tokyo, 1975.

/ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ /

Acrostic:

why am I telling you
you know it all

From "My Life" (from The New Yorker)
by Matthew Zapruder

/ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ /

"Like a patient etherized upon a table"

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/44212/the-love-song-of-j-alfred-prufrock

/ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ / ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ /

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Interview with an Ex-con ~ Thursday, April 1, 2021

How truly bad are you? Can we say, "Yes,
obviously, I am drawn to evil,
where I fantasize about the dark side,

taking a life, or just causing grievous
retaliatory action or harm;
until I do, I am protected, still
liberty and freedom of speech oblige
yet limit me as to what I can say.

Blithering idiots foretell, bullhorn
at hand, present and ready to relay
demonstrations of idle threats, the news

after the fact of a catastrophe,
release to the public the constant noise
engaged in by egocentric bold fiends.

Yet, I am certain my fantasy world
obliges me to state nothing upfront,
until I effectively play a role.

Cartoon characters make me feel that veiled
actions only backfire like a shotgun
negating my existence for two cents.

Wicked people with their FBI files
entertain magnanimous personas.

Sentenced to death or life inside prison,
abject felons seek out the personals,
yes, to connect with ordinary folk.

Yes, mass murder is wrong ... but is revenge;
even ordinary folk drink whole milk,
sipping or guzzling a glass like a sponge."